Correcting her Mark
by Snow's Return
Summary: When Snape unfairly gives Hermione a bad mark, she's not about to sit back and allow her GPA to be destroyed. Instead, she cleverly devises a plan to ask for the mark to be changed...and anything that entails. Manipulative Hermione. AU where Snape teaches Potions instead of DADA in the sixth year. Snape/Hermione when she is 17. Snamione Please review thx
1. Asking

**SUMMARY: When Snape unfairly gives Hermione a bad mark, she's not about to sit back and take it. Instead, she asks for ****the mark to be changed...and anything that entails. Manipulative Hermione. AU where Snape still taught Potions ****instead of DADA in the sixth year. Snape/Hermione. Machiavellian plot.**

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**Chapter 1: Asking**

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Hermione's nostrils flared as her breathing became more and more erratic and harsh looking at the piece of parchment in her hand.

It was her marked Potions essay, which she had meticulously studied and polished for many hours upon hours the previous week. It had been her pride and glory writing this paper.

The topic: using scavenged elf and goblin materials to revitalize and add new elements to old potion recipes, giving them new meanings and depths. It was groundbreaking research, really. An absolutely brilliant piece, well above and beyond the level of what should have even been expected of a sixth year Hogwarts student. Expectations which she regularly exceeded in all her classes, let alone Potions.

Therefore, it was an absolute blight on her spotless record and near perfect GPA that a horrible, unacceptable C+ had been scrawled on her essay.

_Oh, how it made her blood boil._

Hermione Granger a C+? It was absurdly unfair and totally uncalled for.

The man responsible for giving her this mark was going to regret it for the rest of his life.

Hermione knew her essay at least deserved an A...at the very minimal though an A+ would be highly more accurate.

Unfortunately, a certain bitter old Potions professor refused to do anything that might help along her very certain placement as an Advanced Potions apprentice by the end of the year.

Hermione crushed the edge of the parchment in her hands, tempted to tear it up, including the horrible, snide remarks and grade Snape had scribbled down in red ink over her own black ink.

This time Snape had gone too far.

She never took it personally before when Snape singled Harry, Ron and her out for being Gryffindor's and friends of Potter... because the professor had still kept his marking fair.

But an unjust, inaccurate mark? Just because he held a grudge against her best friend?

_Oh this is war,_ Hermione smirked to herself._ I will not go down without a fight. I'm getting that Potions apprenticeship, Severus, whether you like it or not._

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Hermione marched straight to his office, down in the Slytherin dungeons. The air was moist here and the stone walls of the castle here seemed to echo more like a cave. She sensed this part of the castle had been partly built under the lake.

She stared wide-eyed as Slytherin students gave her looks and seemed to whisper things at the intrusion of a Gryffindor in their domain. She just clutched her book bag tighter to her chest and ignored their dirty glares. She had her wand in the pocket of her robes if they wanted to start trouble.

More likely than not, they were more afraid of her than she of them.

Being of the infamous Golden Trio, they probably worried that she came to investigate them over some matter the Slytherins were involved in. For it was true, she never wandered thru the hallways of the Slytherin dungeons unless she was was up to something.

At any other time, that might be true, but it wasn't true today.

Today wasn't for Harry or Voldemort or the Death Eaters or any of the war.

Today was personal.

Academic to the core, with two doctor parents, she took her grades very seriously and prided herself on her performance.

The brunette rounded around a pillar and tried to get out of sight from passing Slytherins before she subtly walked straight through the hallway to Snape's office and whispered, "_Alohamora."_

To her surprise, the Potions professor had no further locks on his office door.

_'Probably doesn't hide things here,'_ Hermione thought to herself. _'But hides the dark things elsewhere or at another location.'_

Guiltily, she remembered how much Harry and her wanted to find out if Snape was really a Death Eater or whether he was really aligned to Dumbledore afterall. Well, those questions would have to wait for another day. Hermione bit her lip as an idea struck. Unless she were able to snoop around at the same time as fixing her mark.

She smiled in an almost Slytherin way as she closed the mahogany office door behind her and announced her arrival. "Professor Snape are you there? I've come to ask you a question."

Snape was not sitting at his desk, if he was even here at all.

She quickly took stock of the busy contents and large piles of books and parchments in the round-shaped office. A small fireplace with a cauldron hung boiling and hissing by the side.

Suddenly another door from behind the fireplace swung open as the Professor himself returned. She tried to look over his shoulder to see where the extra door led to but it was dark and the door swung shut quickly before she could see. However, she made a mental note to return here when he was absent and snoop down that door to see where it led to.

Snape cleared his throat, irritated already at her presence. "May I ask Miss Granger what gave you the right to come visit my office," he hissed out the word territorially. "without an appointment or even knocking." He pointed angrily at the door. "You do know the door is there for knocking _before_ entry, otherwise you may find you are not welcome or permitted to just traipse in here at your beck and call." With that, he dramatically sat down at his desk, his black robes billowing around him like a cape.

Hermione just raised an eyebrow. That was quite a speech already and she hadn't even told him what she wanted yet.

He was a spitball of fire._ Well, try me,_ she was one too.

Unimpressed, Hermione began to claim her own grievance, completely ignoring his. She sat at the chair directly across from his desk and placed the parchment on his desk.

"I believe you marked this," she said accusatorily.

Snape looked distastefully down his nose at the parchment. He barely looked at it.

Perhaps the bastard hadn't even read her paper before marking it so dismissively.

"And what of it? Do you attempt to come here to claim a _grievance_?" His lips curled in distaste at the word and his dark eyes briefly met hers for a split second before he stared boredly behind her head as if he couldn't count the seconds before she was gone from his office. "I do believe if you have something to contest with your mark, Miss Granger, you can simply work harder on your next assignment to ensure the mark is more to your_ liking_."

Hermione narrowed her eyes, though her temper flared. How dare he make her sound like some petulant child!

She knew she would need more cunning and wits than anger to get her way with this impossible man. Otherwise, the man would just give her a detention and then her next mark might be even worse in retaliation.

"I believe you know, Severus, that my essay went above and beyond expectations for a sixth year Potions research paper," she spoke as authoratitively as she could, trying to keep her upset emotions out of her voice.

"Do not dare address me by my first name, Miss Granger." He corrected her quickly. "We are not on such familial terms."

Hermione huffed out a laugh. "I do believe we are NOT, indeed sir." She met his eyes again and was struck for a second by their depth. She swallowed and looked down briefly at his desk as she inhaled. "Which is why I do not understand why your marking has been so personal in its nature."

"Personal?" He snapped.

This was the absolute truth of the matter. And the one, Hermione knew, Snape, as with any other corrupt teacher bent off their power, would stringently deny til the end. A teacher would hardly ever admit to favouritism, or its opposite, antagonism in marking of students. Yet that was absolutely what Snape did on the regular, particularly to the Gryffindors and particularly to the Gryffindors closest to Harry Potter. It was pure malice and compeltely unprofessional. But it would be no easy task to get Severus Snape to admit he was a bigot with a hard-on for torturing the Gryffindors in the class, particularly those who reminded him of James Potter, his old nemesis.

"Yes, _personal_," Hermione repeated, as if she were explaining this all to a dumb toddler having a tantrum.

She leaned forward a bit and hoped a trace of her cleavage showed through her robes. Snape shifted uncomfortably.

"You know as well as I do that you have some kind of personal vendetta against my friend, Harry Potter. And that it just so happens now your recent actions reflect your distaste at the idea of my tutelage under your wing next year. You don't want to deal with me on a daily basis in your lab or right beside you."

Severus Snape really met her eyes now, staring at her as if she were a worthy opponent and no longer just a trifling he could brush aside with a threat of detention.

"How interesting a theory. Yet I assure you, you do flatter yourself." Yet his eyes were dark as ever. He crossed his long, pale fingers into a triangle over his desk. "I have marked your paper as objectively as if I never laid eyes on you. So," he paused on the word. "I have no reason to change the mark."

Hermione had waited for his resistance. She knew it was coming. So she would have to use another arsenal in her bag of wits to weigh things into her favour. Because Severus Snape was feeding her nothing but bullshit, she felt not the slightest remorse to give him some bullshit back in his direction.

"Oh, that's interesting. Because I know for a fact that Draco Malfoy's paper was not half so well written and yet you gave him a better mark." In fact, she knew none of this for sure. But knowing Snape's intense favouritism, it might as well have been a fact.

The way he twitched ever so slightly told her she was correct in her guesses.

"Now how could that happen?" Hermione teased, giving as good as a Slytherin. "It couldn't be that Draco Malfoy is your godson and you displayed a remarkable amount of unprofessionality in giving him the edge for next year's apprenticeship. Now how would the Ministry of Education feel about that, I wonder?"

"Miss Granger, are you threatening me?"

She sat up slightly and crossed her legs.

She noticed then that the proffesor's eyes briefly followed the movement of her legs. She felt a jolt in her stomach as she realized that, despite his hatred of her and crusty outward shell, Severus Snape was also a flesh-and-blood heterosexual man and susceptible to the sight of a woman's skin and curves.

In that moment, she blessed her luck that today was one of the days she wore her Gryffindor plaid skirt under her robes, rather than pants.

Without stockings underneath.

She had seen his eyes briefly distracted by the sight of her bare thighs.

"You do flatter yourself," she repeated his words back to him.

"Do I?" He raised his eyebrows and examined her. His expression unreadable.

The office was unbearably silent for a long moment; the tension grown so thick you could slice it with a slicing hex and spread it on bread.

Hermione crossed her legs again. Her movements achingly slow and sensual as if she were just awakening to her power.

"I wouldn't dream of trying to threaten you." She pressed her thighs together. "In fact, I simply want my mark changed. Because you, as well as I, know that you didn't give me the mark I deserve."

"I gave you the mark you _deserved_, Miss Granger!" Snape declared with a sneer, suddenly standing up to his full height. "Now you can leave my office at once, before I punish you with so many detentions you're going to regret ever stepping into my office for an _appeal!"_

Hermione stood up as well. She wasn't backing down. She had already gone too far in her movements for her inneundo to go unnoticed.

She was going all in, and truth be told, she'd never been more glad that they had this meeting of minds. She was tired of being tossed aside by the Potions professor and dismissed as a nuisance. She was much _much_ more than that.

And since he had refused to see her as anything but a nuisance and Harry Potter's side-chick, she was going to force Snape to reevaluate his opinion of her. Whether he liked it or not, he would never see Hermione Granger the same way again. Her lips curled into a sensuous smile. Truth be told, as much as their hate was mutual, she had never denied how his deep voice sometimes produced chills in her core. She hated him, but by Merlin, this only made her want to mess around with his mind more.

"Seeing as you have such a distaste for my presence, perhaps YOU professor had better rethink giving me so many detentions that I'm never out of your sight. It would be a bit antithetical to your intentions of getting rid of me, wouldn't it?" She stepped around his desk until she was a mere foot away from him. His tall form was still as a statue as she stood by him. "Do you really want to spend to spend so much time alone with me?" she looked up at him, almost fawningly, her mark laid forgotten as she set on her new design.

Snape bit back a hiss. "Get out. Right now." Yet he didn't move an inch as she sat on his desk, facing him, her legs opening so he was certain he could probably see under her skirt. She wore red lace underwear. For him. She hoped he would notice later if he was so bold as to touch her or make a move. For now he seemed as still as a statue unable to decide what to do with her.

Until he swung down on her, crushing her hands on either side of her so her wrists were pinned to the desk, by her knees, and she could not possibly reach for her wand.

Their faces were so close now she could feel his breath on her face and as he spoke his dark eyes never left her face. "Just what are you playing at, you little wench?" His nostrils flared and she felt terrified for a second he was going to use his skills to obliviate her.

Instead, he continued heavy breathing across her face.

Daring to be bold, despite shaking, she leaned into his face, so that their lips were barely an inch apart as she spoke. "I'm not trying anything, sir. This is more than a mark. This is truly personal."

He tutted lowly. "Miss Granger, you should know better. Whatever your designs."

"I have no designs." For in this moment, she truly meant it. Whatever she had intended before, she was too deep into the lust of the moment to care about anything except having him inside her. As despicable as that was, perhaps, she had never before this moment realized how magnetized she was to him. Perhaps that's why she hated him so intently. Perhaps that's why he hated her. "I swear," she said and licked her lips.

If her ears did not deceive her, he actually emitted a groan. She could feel the inkling of the clouded lust behind his facade.

But then his next words were low and full of spite. "Do you really think you can come down here and so simply seduce me? Do you think your professor so thick and daft that I would risk everything to mess around with a student, let alone one I despise and cannot stand the sight of?"

His hands however stayed on her wrists and they felt moist.

Til suddenly he let her go and she nearly felt backwards on the desk at the change in dynamic.

She was in the shock of his life at the next words that fell out of his lips.

"Bend over the desk and lift up your skirt, Miss Granger."

She was too shocked to move. Was he actually reciprocating or was this something else?

"Do it, Granger," he snapped, his voice loud and angry.

Shaking and unsure if she had tempted the dragon beyond the point of getting burned, she slowly turned around and with shaking hands bent over his desk and lifted her skirt.

"Good."

There was a throaty, lustful quality in his voice that she had never heard before. She imagined he was staring at the red thong which bared most of her skin.

"You know what you've done. In lieu of detention, I will spank you."

Hermione exhaled in a mixture of exhilaration and fear and surprise. Could he really be doing this? This was nothing like a side of Snape she had ever imagined being able to see.

She nearly choked as his hand lowered and gripped her bottom softly and then extremely possessively. She breathed erratically.

Would he do something more?

No, the next five minutes of her life were the most strange and erotic of her entire life before as Snape beat her bottom with his hands.

It did not hurt, he was not rough but he was not gentle either.

She gasped as his hand lingered after the last spank before he lowered her skirt and pulled her up off the desk.

He looked absolutely ashamed and conflicted. Her mouth fell open trying to find some words to say.

"Get out of my office," Snape hissed before she could speak. "Now."

She had never seen the Potions Professor so angry.

She decided it would be unwise to test him further.

A line had been crossed. On both their sides, but Hermione Granger was unsure if either of them would ever have the courage to say what had trespassed here...or the courage to follow up to its completion.

She walked out of his office and down the Slytherin halls on shaking legs, her hair sticking to her neck with sweat.

The past half hour or so had been among the most exhilirating of her life.

How had something so dark yet exciting been hidden from her for so long?

She inhaled deeply. Feeling empowered. Alive. Scared. Excited. Full of lust. Full of fear. Full of anticipation.

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A/N: Please review if you liked it :) thanx


	2. Lying

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**Chapter 2: Lying**

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"What the _fuck_ had just happened?" Hermione didn't swear much at herself, but this is one time, she took exception.

She couldn't believe how well, or badly rather, her plan had gone. Snape hadn't exactly changed her mark...yet. But there were like a million other things that happened, including a very obvious breach of the student-teacher relationship, several acts that veered off a cliff of impropriety and scandal...or was it really? Was spanking her, for being cheeky, really out of bounds? Hermione's head swirled with the possibility. Suddenly her eyebrows raised. Well, Snape groping her bottom before doing so was definitely NOT professional. Oh Merlin. And the worst part is she had enjoyed it, every single titillating, exotic, rule-breaking, unearthly minute of it. Who knew Severus Snape could be so hot? He had pushed all her buttons, whether he intended to or not. God. Merlin. She couldn't calm down.

Hermione hurriedly walked down the corridor away from Snape's office. She was initially going to go to her dormitory to calm down and maybe change and take a shower. But she quickly assessed her red face in the mirror and decided maybe she needed to walk around a little and collect herself before Harry and Ron could see her. They would pick up on her sudden mood change. Still, she was not looking forward to seeing her best friends.

Reluctantly, she walked down to the Great Hall, picked up a snack to put in her back, then hurried back out hoping no one at Gryffindor table saw her.

Briefly, she tried to see if Snape was sitting at the headmaster's table for dinner, but she did not see him.

"Hermione, where have you been?"

The sound of Ron's voice immediately brought Hermione back to reality like a bucket of cold water.

_"You wouldn't even believe me if I told you," _Hermione thought as she met Ron's eyes. _"And if you did, you would kill me."_ She shuddered to herself as she shifted her skirt and was very aware of the shameful underwear she wore underneath...the red lace panties that not half an hour ago Severus Snape's hands had touched.

"Well?" Ron prodded, wondering if his best friend had lost her mind.

"Nothing," she said quietly. "I've just come back from the library actually. I had to bring some books back that were overdue."

"Right, should've guessed." Ron shrugged.

"You know me," Hermione lied expertly as they walked along the stone hallways. She felt bad lying to Ron but what else could she say? She couldn't tell him the truth, everyone would go ballistic and a scandal might emerge...completely wrecking her plans of both espionage and changing her mark.

She hoped her cheeks weren't still flushed red. Though the memory of Professor Snape's hands and body all over her made her blood pool downwards and her head dizzy.

She was just about to make a turn down a staircase when Ron's arm reached out to stop her. He gave her a quizzical look.

"Uhm," Ron's hands moved to her shoulder. "You're walking the wrong way to Gryffindor tower." He steered her in the right direction. "Bloody hell, Mione, have you gone mental?"

"Oops. Sorry. What I was thinking?!" Her face burned and her palms felt sweaty. Was this guilt she was feeling or just nerves? Or maybe trauma perhaps? She couldn't even tell.

"Thinking too much, more like." Ron said. "I swear, Hermione, you are always up in your head thinking about books and stuff, you don't even watch where you're going anymore. One more step and you would've headed straight to the Slytherin dungeon."

Hermione's throat constricted. "Oh Ron, you have no idea." He would simply kill her and Snape too if he ever found out  
what had happened in Snape's office. Not that her and Ron were dating, they were more like family...although, she cringed now, she had more than once wondered if they'd end up developing feelings for each other. Luckily, she had quickly gotten over that. Her experience with Victor Krum had made her see there were qualities that just familiarity to be desired in a man. She and Victor had only made-out a few times and that had been intense, but what stayed with her more was the sharp lines of his face and honed body, as well as the incredible self-discipline and ambition Victor had...qualities that Ron didn't share. Not that he suffered by comparison. Ron just wasn't her thing. And Snape, oh my god, she wasn't even sure what Snape was yet, just a game or something more? Would the professor retaliate and hate her for pushing his boundaries, or was he attracted enough to her to keep it quiet? This was one of the most dangerous games, or tests, Hermione had ever attempted so far. She was quickly getting overwhelmed, especially because she had no idea what tomorrow would be like when she saw Snape again.

"Sorry, Ron, tell Harry I think I'm going to go to bed early, I have a potions thing I want to study for."

"Aren't you going to eat?" Ron said, taking out a cookie to chew on. Ron always stuffed treats from the Great hall into his pockets for snacking on later.

She gave him a tight-lipped smile and showed him her book bag filled with dinner items wrapped in magic-saranwrap for later.

"Right. Don't study too hard. You know Snape's a prat that's going to give the highest grade to Malfoy anyways. There's no sense in trying to please him."

Hermione's throat tightened. "Err, right, I won't let that deter me." Though Merlin how she _wished_ Snape would allow her to_ please him_. If only academically. No, that wasn't true. Academically wasn't enough for her anymore, if anything at the top of her true design. She decided now she wanted his soul, she wanted him to completely go out of control for her. If only he would let her in emotionally.

All that night she tossed and turned. Thoughts of the dark haired professor haunted her sleep and she twisted the sheets around her. In her dream, they were in Knockturn Alley and she kept trying to chase after him but he merely turned and disappeared into shadows so that she was left crying on the floor alone. When she awoke, her eyes and body yearned to see him. And yet she was scared too. How would he react? This would be the first time they saw each other since the incident in his office.

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That afternoon in the Potions class was awkward to say the least. Not that Potions class with Snape was ever fun to begin with in the last six years, but this was a major disappointment to say the least.

Snape was flat-out ignoring her.

She should've expected as much. Snape was no fool. He wasn't just going to fall in love with her. It was rumored he had been a spy before, as well as being a respected professor and confidante of the headmaster and the Ministry. He was a very well connected Wizard who's fall would be a huge scandal. Of course, he would ignore her and carry on as if nothing happened so save face. Except now it was as if she had never existed. While the source of scorn and his hatred before, for being a Gryffindor and Harry Potter's friend, she was now one step beneath that: total indifference.

She tried to answer a question twice during his lecture, and even raised her hand for a whole two minutes straight til her arm hurt but Snape continued to ignore her and instead choose tp pick on some of the Slytherins to answer his questions.

He was lecturing today on the properties of crystals and emulsions which everyone found boring. Except for her. She secretly loved random archaic crap and knowledge like this. Usually, she would at least find peace in listening to his deep knowledge...and deep, alluring voice. But now it was no fun at all.

Hermione tiredly turned the well-worn pages of her Potions textbook and tried to sneak glances at him. She needn't have put in any effort at being covert. Snape didn't even spare a glance in her direction for the whole lesson, a feat of stubbornness in itself. She felt rejected and more than a little angry.

"Everyone turn to page 506 and begin reading the entire chapter until the very last page," Snape drawled as he wrote some notes on the chalkboard in his elegant handwriting. "Everything included in this chapter will be on a reading comprehension quiz at the end of the class."

Everyone groaned and took out their textbooks. Ron was particularly loud in expressing his displeasure by swearing under his breath. Even the Slytherins began to bicker a bit and try to plead with Snape to take the quiz at another time.

"No ifs and buts!" Snape snapped back at them. "And any talking whatsoever will result in an added 5% percentage deduction in your quiz marks."

The potions professor strutted back to his desk, which was at least 5 desks behind Hermione's own seating arrangement.

Neville, who sat beside her, looked as nervous as if he was about to run a marathon. Poor Neville always got the worse marks in potions despite always passing and despite his notorious knack for burning up cauldrons.

"Don't worry," Hermione couldn't help whisper to her friend's ear. "This chapter is very straight forward and easy, I read it in advance."

Neville smiled at her gratefully and Hermione placed a hand over his in a comforting gesture. It was a completely platonic, innocent gesture between two friends. She also didn't think she spoke even loud enough for anyone to hear except if they were a lip reader and watching her lips.

But suddenly she felt a familiar set of jet black eyes boring down on her as Snape furiously marched towards their desks.

His eyes were now completely on her, looking nowhere else, and remorsefully, she wondered why she thought it wasn't a better option to be ignored by the surly professor. He looked absolutely livid, like he wanted to slap her.

"Miss Granger," he spat out, "you broke the first rule about this quiz. As such you will both have 5% deducted off your quiz marks."

"Professor, this is completely unfair, Neville didn't even say anything!"

"Silence!"

"I was merely whispering to Neville," Hermione couldn't help hissing, not allowing herself to be oppressed by this jerk, especially when he was being mean to Neville, "so it was hardly as if I was interrupting the class."

"You ARE interrupting the class now." Snape hissed back at her.

Yet she didn't cower under him. While the man was tall and imposing and, yes a little scary, Hermione had gained a lot more courage to stand up to him after their heated meeting in his office. Also, she was probably more than a little pissed off that he was trying to brush her off like she had fallen off the face of the earth.

She could stand up to him.

Again.

"In the hallway, Miss Granger. Right now, before I deduct another ten marks off," Snape said lowly, almost in a growl.

Hermione felt a drop in her stomach. It occurred to her, as they both walked to the back of the classroom towards the door, that they were going to be alone again. Fuck.

Snape held open the door for her and she nervously stepped outside the darkly lit hallway.

Torches glimmered in sconces along the walls, throwing excessive shadows upon both their faces so it was hard to read what he was really thinking.

Severus stared at her hard a moment, before stepping back to shut the door behind them. He locked it with his wand.

She gulped again, feeling her throat tightening.

When his eyes met hers again and he stood over her, Hermione felt a panicked sense of fear and excitement spike up in her stomach.

She was ashamed to feel her heart race as if he was going to kiss her.

But he did not.

He looked nowhere near as angry as he had a moment ago in the classroom.

Now his demeanor seemed crossed between disgust and mild amusement.

Snape broke her thoughts with his penetrating, deep voice. "I believe you left this in my office."

He handed her a rolled piece of parchment which she instantly recognized. Her essay.

She quickly opened it to see if he had changed the mark. Her face fell.

Snape's tongue clicked. "No, I did not change it, why should you have expected as much? Your work certainly didn't change so your mark didn't change."

Her face reddened. "Did you even read it before completely dismissing the validity of my work?

Snape rolled his eyes. "I've had just enough of your cheek, Miss Granger!"

Yet they both looked uncomfortable at that last word as they seemed to mutually remember his hand gripping a completely different cheek.

"As I was saying," Snape said and shifted his head back. "You've been a complete nuisance from the beginning, but lately in all ways possible. To the point that I dread, Miss Granger, genuinely dread teaching any class with _you_ in it."

He might as well as have slapped her face, she was so insulted. To act as if she was the problem, when it was all the way him who made all his classes intolerable for anyone except the Slytherins.

"That is completely unfair, professor, as unfair as your marks of both my and Neville's-"

"Neville?" This word seemed particularly distasteful to the professor. "I would remind you to worry about your own poor performance before bequeathing your concern to someone else, let alone Neville Longbottom whose performance is even shoddier than yours."

His eyes stared at her like a dark warning.

"Why you are incorrigible, you are the most biased, horrible-"

"DO NOT try me further, Miss Granger." Snape stepped closer to her so that he was towering over her, with her back to the wall. "Your grades are what you deserve, what you earned and will not be changed at the drop of a hat because you so demand it."

"I just asked you to read my essay!"

"You asked for more than that, and you know it," Snape threw back at her, his face livid.

Hermione bit her lip hard, tears threatening to weaken her in front of him. The callous bastard, to act like he had done nothing whatsoever to deserve this. If he hadn't tortured them all, but especially Harry and Neville, for six years with unfair bias maybe she would never have had the idea enter in her mind to get back at him somehow.

"You are getting detention," Snape finally said. "Get out of my sight!"

He turned on his heel, his robes billowing after him.

Hermione walked shakily back into the classroom. What had just happened? She never felt more powerless.

Snape had just thrown everything in her face, with only a few words, shifting the power frame back into his favor.

She sat down, pale faced, at her desk and tried to read but the words just slipped out of her mind.

There was only one thing she could think of.

She looked up from the book and stared openly at Snape.

Since he was ignoring her, it took awhile for him to notice that she was blatantly staring at him while everyone else was reading and anxiously prepping for the quiz. She sat back and continued to stare at him. When he continued to ignore her, she loudly snapped shut her book, hoping he would hear that.

Finally his dark black eyes met hers and he narrowed his gaze.

She sat back a little in surprise as he marched towards her and dropped a piece of paper onto her desk.

What?

It was the quiz.

Suddenly the bastard was speaking to the whole classroom. "Since some of you seem to think this reading period is a waste of your precious time, and you already know everything," since Snape was standing right next to Hermione as he said this and her textbook was closed everyone immediately knew it was her fault. "Then we will have the quiz right now and you will be let out early, isn't that right Miss Granger? Everybody shut your books and take your quills out now."

Snape handed out the rest of the quizzes to her classmates to even more groans.

The whole class hated her. Even Ron said, "Thanks a lot Hermione, not everyone is pre-reads things like you do!"

"Yeah not everyone is as smart as you, Mione," Harry said.

"Yeah way to go bookworm," Draco said and snickered with his cronies. "Maybe you should've spent some of that time fixing your hair instead of reading."

Pansy laughed raucously and began to make fun of her looks―her bushy hair and no boobs―to the Slytherin girls. Draco kept laughing loudly like he was enjoying the gossip as much as the girls. Why didn't Snape deduct the Slytherins any points for being so loud and fucking mean to her?!

She couldn't take it anymore.

Hermione could feel her eyes fill with tears and she dashed out of the classroom, not caring who saw her or that she hadn't done the quiz and her marks would plummet even more.

This was war.

Snape wasn't going to win. She would push back and make him regret ever crossing her.

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A/N: Thank you so much lovely people for reading, reviewing and following this story, really appreciate. Unfortunately, I was in the hospital last month and was recovering from something but now I'm back and loving this story, so stay tuned and let me know any ideas you have for the next chapter in the box below. Note: thank you to the reviewer that wrote she forgot her essay in his office, appreciate it and I used that as a plot point in this chapter. thanks and anyone want to see hermione plot a new payback and vegeance on snape? how?

What do u think Hermione's next step should be to get back at snape and also maybe reconsider how easily he dismissed her?


	3. Crying

**Chapter 3: Crying**

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"What's wrong Hermione?"

Ever since she had gotten back from her Potions class that evening she couldn't stop crying. Ginny, always supportive,  
was the only person in the dormitory that early besides her.

Ginny attempted to stroke her hair and soothe her in a gesture not dissimilar to the elder Mrs. Weasley.

"Can't you tell me what's bothering you?"

Hermione wished she could tell her. Ginny was always such a good friend, and one of the few female friends Hermione had at Hogwarts.

"It's nothing," Hermione finally said, trying to not seem like an absolute mess with her hair sticking to her wet, tear stained face.

Ginny stared back at her as if Hermione had lost her mind.

"Hermione, it's not nothing if you're crying this hard about it." The redhead's blue eyes, similar to Ron's, suddenly widened.

"This is about a boy, isn't it?" Ginny smiled softly.

Hermione ducked her head down into her pillow and began to scream-cry. Why did other females have to be so good at reading her emotions? Damn it, it wasn't fair. She could wear a neon sign with her emotions written on it and Ron and Harry would still be completely obtuse and not know what was going on with her.

Hermione finally looked up and met Ginny right in the eye. "Okay. It is. But I can't tell you any details."

Ginny looked excited for her friend. "Oh my god, he's a Slytherin isn't he? Is he hot?"

"Shut up, Ginny! Please!" The redhead was going to blow her cover. Hermione nibbled at her thumb and tried to re-evaluate the situation. "Okay, Ginny, calm down."

"Me calm down?" Ginny shook her head, her lovely long hair shimmering enviably as she did. "You've been crying so much you could probably could scare a troll, your face is swollen up!" She shoved a tissue at Hermione.

"Right. I'm going to stop crying now." Hermione wiped at her eye, removing one last remaining tear, and then got out her wand to try to reduce the puffiness in her face. She didn't want anyone else to find out she was crying. Meanwhile, Hermione made two important mental notes. Firstly, to ask Ginny later for some of her hair tips. What kind of shampoo did the redhead use? How did she get so much shine to her hair with zero tangles? Second mental note: Hermione needed to be very, very careful around Ginny. Ginny was the person who knew her best at Hogwarts, it was very hard to keep a secret from her. Also, unlike Ron and Harry, Ginny had a spot-on intuition for sensing things about her. Ginny could easily figure out what was going on between Snape and her if the redhead ever saw them together. So that must never happen. She had to distract Ginny from the truth by conjuring some other red herring to distract her.

Hermione bit her lip. "Okay Ginny, I'm sorry, I swear I wish I could tell you more. But I can't." She began to lie. "This thing that's going on, has to do with one of the Death Eaters I suspect in is Slytherin."

"Merlin, if that's true you need to tell Dumbledore!"

"I can't."

"Why not?"

"Just trust me, I'm working on him. Slowly," she stammered. "To get evidence. There is no other way he will reveal his cover, I have to go in deep. Convince him I have real feelings for him."

"Do Harry and Ron know?" Ginny fiddled with some of her perfect red tresses, pulling it back into a ponytail.

Hermione shook her head and frowned. "No, they would never approve of my methods. You know them. Ron would lose his head."

Ginny began to giggle lightly. "Hermione, what exactly are your 'methods'?" The redhead started laughing in a snorting, unflattering way.

Hermione raised her eyebrows and hoped Ginny didn't do her snort-laugh in front of Harry, it wasn't very becoming.  
"Uhm, well...that's still something I'm still working on...er..Testing his boundaries, is what I like to call it."

She blushed, they both knew what that meant. But this was safe to share between two women.

"Brilliant. Hermione, I know what you're doing and guess what? I absolutely approve. Anything to take down another Death Eater and their creepy lot will be worth it." Ginny's eyes darkened slightly and Hermione was reminded how much the redhead hated Voldemort's side ever since he tried to kill her in the Chamber. "Just don't get hurt."

"Yup, well, that's what I'm doing." She felt bad now to lie to Ginny. Maybe she could tell Ginny the truth later. Or maybe this was partially the truth. Everyone knew Snape was borderline a Death Eater. Maybe she could get the proof while she messed with the Potions Professor in other ways and got into his inner circle of confidence.

She needed Snape to trust her.

The brunette suppressed a smirk. _No, that wasn't the whole truth._

She needed more than Snape's trust. She needed Snape to _want_ her.

"You're like a real life Mata Hari," Ginny sighed, sitting back on her bed and bouncing a pygmy puff between her fingers. "Is he good looking?"

Hermione scrunched up her face. "...I wouldn't say conventionally, but yes, he has something. And he's very tall and well built." She tried to think of generic qualities about Snape that were appealing, without being too identifying.

"Is he big?" Ginny suddenly asked.

Hermione couldn't believe her ears. She sat up in her bed and stared at her fellow Gryffindor in shock, her mouth aghast.  
"Ginny!"

"What?" Ginny looked around her. "It's just you and me here. I won't tell anyone."

"You're a year younger than me. Should you even be asking me that?"

Ginny yawned. "Hermione, I'm a year younger than you, but I've had three boyfriends so far, going steady with Dean Thomas, while you've had, what one? Victor Krum?"

"I've had two," Hermione corrected her. She had a muggle boyfriend during the summers of third and fifth year she saw on and off.

"So?

"So what?"

"Have you seen it?"

"No, I haven't." Hermione's face got beet red. "Not yet."

Her mind raced with titillating thoughts of what Snape's most private part of him might look like. Was he a large size? She had a feeling he was. Although it was impossible to tell under his billowing robes. Would Snape even allow her to get that far with him before obliviating her or sending her to the headmaster? Maybe he was playing bluff, trying to scare her off or ignore her to test whether she was serious or not about going further with him. Maybe he never done something like this before with a student and was disgusted and scared of the consequences.

"I saw Fred and George's things once by accident when I walked in on them in the washroom. They looked like really fat Extendable ears, the back part I mean." Ginny grimaced, looking like she was going to puke. "But I haven't done it with a boy yet. I'm waiting for the right one." She smiled absently. "Dean is fun to make-out with but I don't see us lasting long term, if you catch my drift?"

Hermione did not miss the longing look on Ginny's face. She had long sensed that Ginny still held a flame for Harry and was just waiting for him to come to his senses and stop dating ditzes like Cho Chang.

"What about you?"

"Right, I don't know... I thought I would wait too, til it was more special. But I don't have that luxury anymore, not in the time of war. Besides," Hermione said and realized she wasn't lying anymore. "I think he is special in a way. I'm really attracted to him."

She bit her lip as she thought about what it might be like with Snape. Or how hot it would be to lose her virginity to a wizard so much older than her.

"Hermione, you need to be careful," Ginny said, interrupting her stream of thought.

"What do you mean?"

"What if you fall in love? With a Death Eater?"

This question took Hermione off guard. For truthfully, she hadn't even considered the possibility yet. It all seemed like a game to her so far. Ginny was being a lot more mature and observant than she expected, especially not knowing the details.

"I guess that's a possibility," Hermione said with a shrug of her shoulders, trying to act unaffected. "But I swear, that's not going to happen. If he's a Death Eater, I'm going to take him down."

"Be careful he doesn't take you down with him."

The words stuck with her.

That night, however, she rested very well and didn't dream of Snape this time. Instead, she dreamt of large fluffy clouds and cyrstal clear waters in which  
she swam...before being bit by a snake.

She awoke feeling very thirsty, her throat burnt like she'd been sleeping in a dessert.

.

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The next day was a Saturday so luckily no classes and no Snape.

The detention Snape had given her would likely be on the following Monday or Tuesday after Potions.

The thought brought a pit of fear into her stomach but she shook it off. She was in charge of her reactions, not him. She was the one plotting against Snape, not the other way around. She would upsurp him somehow.

Now she needed to prepare and relax.

There was only one place she could find that sort of comfort.

So her footsteps led the way down the familiar path to the library.

Madam Pince was not there so she skipped ahead and used a book finding charm to search the archives. She needed a book that would help formulate her plan. Nothing sketchy but something that might help give her an extra boost of allure. She wasn't prepared to use a love potion or anything mind-altering like that. The thought disgusted her. If she was going to seduce the Professor, she wanted it to be genuine and not fake. She didn't know why really, but she needed him to like her genuinely.

Was this sort of deranged fantasy the result of being hated by him for six years?

Maybe.

She browsed the book shelves and slipped out a few titles that might be relevant.

Embarassingly, the only book about how to charm men, without the use of magic, was a very trite, silly book written by some woman called Madame Clousierre from France, of course. French women seemed to exude a natural seductive wantoness that was completely absent in her own very English, more subtle charms.

The Gryffindor scrunched up her face as she read the first few chapter titles "What wizards want" and "How to be the witch of his dreams". The book ended, after many chapters repeating the same dogma, with "How to get a wizard to propose" and "How to Keep your wizard satisfied"

After half an hour, she was thoroughly disgusted. Why was this book even in Hogwarts library?

None of it was really of any help.

How could she get to a wizard's heart when this one was so closed?

Did she even want his heart anymore, or was lust enough?

Lust had seemed a good bait so far.

Would using only lust, as Mme Clousierre suggested, really backfire if she didn't also use psychological tactics? What did it mean to be his perfect compliment or embody what the wizard is lacking. To give him the home life and things he lacked as a child. What did that even mean? She didn't know anything about Snape's childhood. How could she possibly find that out?

Her hands reached out to grasp her forehead feeling a headache coming.

Perhaps there was no way to study for seduction. You just had to do it.

Where was that daring she first had at his office, when she was so blazingly angry about her mark?

Things had seemed to come naturally to her when she was angry at Snape.

She became brazen and ridiculously brave if she knew she was in the right and he was in the wrong.

_Brilliant._ Maybe that was the solution. She could just make sure she was seething with anger at Snape before their next detention and then something would happen, right? She could take control like she did in his office.

_No, no, no. Hermione, you can do better than this._ She needed a plan. Where was her inner sex kitten? Her Mata Hari as Ginny had called it?

Her inner femme fatale couldn't be so sollipsitic that it only showed up when she was madder than a red hot kettle.

How could she get Severus Snape knees to bend and his mouth go dry when she walked into his classroom next week?

Her lips twisted in a cruel smile as she suddenly got an idea...one of the beauty tricks she had learned from some Beauxbaton girls during fourth year when she got ready for the Yule Ball. It helped that French was her second language and they had been more than willing to share some of their beauty secrets. With a grin, Hermione remembered the look of shock on everyone's faces when they saw how she looked that night. Why had everyone forgotten this and gotten used to her dowdy, librarian look?

She would just have to take his breath away. And get him to think of her.

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A/N: Thank you so much for reading and reviewing, pls share ur thoughts thank you. This is a short chapter but the next one will be juicy I promise :) btw Hermione could totally have used Elle woods as reinforcement here for a makeover or something. She needs to dress to kill! she's a spy now too and she should find out if snape is a death eater while also getting some amusement out of torturing him


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